Best Advice on How to Avoid Social Media Click Bait Scams

We live in a cyber social media world whether you like it or not, and you need to know how to avoid click bait scams that are running rampant on the internet.

The fact is, we can't help ourselves when it comes to social media. So many people are completely fascinated by it, captivated by it, mesmerized by it, and addicted to it. That means a prime harvest of click bait scam victims.

So, what can you do to keep yourself safe from click bait scams that can infect your device, or worse yet, snatch your identity and your money?

The Colorado Attorney General's Office has three tips to help you avoid those nasty social media click bate scams.

1] Don't Click!
Of course, this is easier said than done. You're not going to get very far on the internet if you never click, but, the key is to know when not to click. If a post or an ad seems too sensational, bizarre, or too crazy to be true, it probably is, and your best course of action is to just move on without clicking.

2] Hover & Hesitate
Before you click on something, you need to know where you're going and where you are being taken. The best thing to do before you click is hover over the link and hesitate for a moment. If you look to the bottom left corner of your PC you will see the URL of the link you are checking, and you can tell if this is taking you to a familiar, trustworthy site, or if you are heading into unfamiliar, shark-infested, scam, fraud, or virus potential territory.

3] Be Aware of Hacker Hostages
If you see a "friend" suggesting a site and inviting you to join or like it, be very careful. Many Facebook platforms reach out to "friends" without the user's knowledge pretending to be the "friend." These aren't always dangerous, but there's definitely potential for some internet hanky-panky by a cyber scammer.